BBC Orders Trio Of Dramas From Nicole Taylor, Michaela Coel & Sally Rooney – TVWise

Three female authored dramas are coming to the BBC. The PSB has commissioned three new dramas from Nicole Taylor, Michaela Coel (pictured, right) and Sally Rooney.
The announcement comes on the same day that Coel is set ti deliver the McTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival. The three series will go out on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three, respectively.
“I am honoured to be today announcing three brand new and contrasting dramas for BBC One, Two and Three”, said the BBC’s Controller of Drama Piers Wenger.
“To BBC One comes The Nest. Nicole Taylor’s talent for creating complex, compelling characters and for getting deep under the skin of modern Britain will make The Nest one of next year’s most thrilling and provocative dramas. We feel enormously fortunate to be working again with Sue Hogg and Nicole, the world class writing and producing team behind Three Girls – their track record speaks for itself…
“Over on BBC Two, I am thrilled to announce the BBC is working with Michaela Coel on her next project for television. Jan 22nd (w/t) will be must-see TV for anyone with an interest in modern gender politics or anyone who is struggling to get to grips with the new rules of sex and dating. We are enormously lucky to have a writer-performer of Michaela’s courage, vision and wisdom to help us navigate such complex and confusing terrain. This is something really special.
“Finally, on BBC Three, Sally Rooney will be adapting her forthcoming novel Normal People for the channel. Sally is fast becoming the voice of her generation and the BBC is thrilled to be working with her on her first piece for television. Normal People is a beautifully crafted story of love and friendship. It was a thrill to read it ahead of publication, and see how she has started to adapt this story of millennial angst for BBC Three.”
Full Details Of The New Shows Follows Below:
BBC One:
The Nest explores the consequences of a pact between a wealthy couple and a teenage girl that changes all of their lives forever. Dan and Emily are crazy about each other. They live in a huge house in the nicest part of Glasgow and want for nothing. All that’s missing is a baby – and they’ve been trying for years. Through a chance encounter they meet Kaya, an 18 year old from the other side of the city, whose life is as precarious at theirs is comfortable. When Kaya agrees to carry their baby, it feels like they were meant to meet but was it really by chance? Who is Kaya and what has brought her to this couple? Can the dreams of Kaya, Emily and Dan be fulfilled or have all three embarked on a relationship of mutually assured destruction?
“The Nest forces an emotionally combustible confrontation between two Glasgows – and it’s the story I’ve wanted to tell all my life”, series creator Nicole Taylor said. “I’m so excited to continue my collaboration with executive producer Sue Hogg and to be bringing my first original series to BBC One.” While this marks Taylor’s first original series for the BBC’s flagship channel, she was the writer behind Rochdale drama Three Girls and the BBC’s The C Word adaptation. The Nest is being produced for BBC One by Studio Lambert. It was commissioned by the BBC’s Controller of Drama Piers Wenger and the BBC’s Director of Content Charlotte Moore. The executive producers are Susan Hogg for Studio Lambert and Lucy Richer for the BBC.
BBC Two
Jan 22nd is described as a “landmark drama” series that explores the question of sexual consent in contemporary life and how, in the new landscape of dating and relationships, we make the distinction between liberation and exploitation. Set in London, where gratification is only an app away, the story centres on Arabella whose raw and personal experience of consent sits at the heart of the story. Through Arabella we meet a group of fictional friends and colleagues whose sexual adventures frequently collide with a world in which new codes of sexual practice are emerging.
In addition to creating the series and penning the scripts, Michaela Coel will also star as Arabella. “I feel weirdly overwhelmed and honoured to be making something again, something I’m making myself, with a great team”, she said. Jan 22nd is being produced for BBC Two by Various Artists Ltd in a co-production with FALKNA Productions. The executive producers are Michaela Coel for FALKNA Productions, Phil Clarke for Various Artists Ltd and Piers Wenger for BBC Two. The series was commissioned by the BBC’s Controller of Drama Piers Wenger and BBC Two Controller Patrick Holland.
BBC Three
Normal People is an adaptation of the Sally Rooney forthcoming novel of the same name which is set to be published next month. It is a modern love story about how one person can unexpectedly change another person’s life and about how complicated intimacy can be. Over several years, we follow Marianne and Connell – both from a small west of Ireland town, but from very different backgrounds – as they embark on an on-off romance that starts at school and continues through college, as they test their relationship, experiment with other partners and explore different versions of themselves.
Rooney herself is adapting the novel for television. “I feel very privileged to be working with such an extraordinary team on the adaptation of Normal People”, said said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of working in a new form, and of thinking about these characters and their lives in new ways.” Normal People is being produced for BBC Three by Element Pictures. Irish film director Lenny Abrahamson is helming the adaptation. It was commissioned by the BBC’s Controller of Drama Piers Wenger and BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanaugh.
“At BBC Three we are 100% committed to providing a platform for fresh contemporary new voices like Sally Rooney”, BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanaugh said in a statement. “Her new novel Normal People is a wonderfully brilliant depiction of young love, friendship and the journey towards adulthood and I cannot wait to see how Sally, Lenny Ed and the team bring it to life on screen for the BBC Three audience.”